Banu Qasi - Sons of Musa

Sons of Musa

Following the 862 death of Musa, nothing is known of the family until 871. It is presumed that the members of the family associated with the Cordoban court and military campaigns, but no record of their presence there survives. Alternatively, it has been suggested that during this period, son Lubb ibn Musa ibn Qasi developed his friendly relations with Asturian king Ordoño. By the time the Banu Qasi reappear, they had lost control of most of their lands, being left with just a small area surrounding Arnedo. In 870, a rebellion in Huesca initiated a chain of events that would bring the Banu Qasi back to dominance. In that year, Amrus ibn Umar of the Banu Amrus assassinated the amil Musa ibn Galindo, son of the turncoat brother of Pamplona king García Íñiguez. The emir, Muhammad, sent an army north, but Amrus allied himself with García, and the Cordoban general, Abd al-Gafir ibn Abd al-Aziz, was killed before the gates of Zaragoza. The Banu Qasi sons of Musa, apparently under the leadership of eldest son Lubb ibn Musa, then allied themselves with García, and reestablished control over their father's possessions. First, the residents of Huesca called on Mutarrif ibn Musa ibn Qasi for leadership. In January 872, Isma‘il ibn Musa entered Zaragoza, and was there joined by Lubb, the two of them together taking Monzon. Isma‘il also allied himself with the Banu Jalaf of Barbitanya, marrying Sayyida, daughter of Abd Allah ibn Jalaf. Fortun ibn Musa occupied Tudela, whose governor the Banu Qasi imprisoned at Arnedo, then killed following an escape. Lubb also occupied and refortified Viguera.

The immediate response of emir Muhammad was to try to limit the expansion of the Banu Qasi by installing a rival dynasty, the Arab Banu Tujibi, in Calatayud, the one part of their father's possessions not reclaimed. In the next year, 873, Muhammad launched a campaign against the various northern rebels. He first bought off the rebels of Toledo with governorships, and this encouraged Amrus to offer his loyalty, for which he was rewarded with Huesca where he captured Mutarrif and his family, including wife Belasquita, the daughter of García Íñiguez of Pamplona. In spite of a desperate attack by the combined troops of his brothers, Mutarrif and three sons, Muhammad, Musa and Lubb, were taken to Córdoba and crucified. The next year, Fortun died in Tudela, while Lubb was killed in an accident in Viguera in 875. This left control of the family in the hands of two men, the remaining brother Isma‘il ibn Musa in Monzon, and Lubb's son, Muhammad ibn Lubb ibn Qasi, who is first known as a defender of Zaragoza against the emirate troops.